Primary care bulletin -12 October 2023
Bulletin:
September vaccine update; Hepatitis A cases in Barnet; cancer bulletin and more


Welcome to this week's primary care bulletin


Key points this week include:
  • September vaccine update from UKHSA
  • New IT self service portal now live
  • Do you use PATCHs or eConsult online consultation platforms?
  • Responding to anti-vaccine material
  • Register to attend the asthma updates
  • Hepatitis A cases in Barnet
  • NHS North West London cancer bulletin
  • GP direct access survey for GP's 
  • Urinary tract infection (UTI) prevention & awareness toolkit
  • Training, webinars and more

September vaccine update from UKHSA

The September flu special edition of Vaccine update is now available from UKHSA.

Vaccine update: issue 342, September 2023

This issue includes:

  • flu vaccination for health and social care workers
  • children’s flu programme
  • resources and promotional materials for the winter flu programme
  • routine and non-routine vaccine supply
View the PDF here

New IT self service portal now live

Please be aware that as of Friday 13th October we will no longer accept any manual forms submitted to us via email, example of the manual forms are New Starters forms, Leavers forms, Hardware Requests forms, etc. After Friday 13th October we will only accept such requests by tickets raised via our IT Self Service Portal.

Use this Self Service link to login: https://selfserviceportal.nw.london.nhs.uk/HEAT
Click the button below for step-by-step login instructions and the full list of tickets currently available to use within Self Service.

If you experience any issues with logging on, please contact the NHS NWL Service desk on 0203 350 4050. 
View instructions to access the portal

Do you use PATCHs or eConsult online consultation platforms? 
Do you use these systems to help triage enquiries or manage sick notes? Are you looking to enhance your confidence when using these systems? 

Sign-up to our Digital First Action Learning Sets taking place in November. Details available on the Learning Hub

Take a look at this short video to find out more

Responding to anti-vaccine material
School aged providers across the country (including in NWL) have reported anti-vaccine letters being circulated amongst parents. To counter anti-vaccine conversations, please find attached some standard responses to concerns raised about the safety and effectiveness of the nasal spray flu vaccine. These concerns appear to relate to some misconceptions about the vaccine, many of which are addressed in UKHSA information leaflets.  Some of the specific misconceptions are also addressed in the attached responses which may be of help in case these concerns are raised at a practice level.
View standard responses

Register to attend the asthma updates

The CYP Asthma group are hosting a schedule of lunchtime presentations covering key Asthma topics. These online presentations that run from 1 to 1.30pm are for GPs, Practice Nurses and Pharmacists.

The sessions run on Wednesdays from 1pm to 130pm and the full schedule is:

November

  • 1st - Diagnosing asthma
  • 8th -  Asthma reviews –including inhaler technique and action plans
  • 15th - Medicines management –including AIR, MART and SMART
  • 22nd - Acute asthma management and the ‘48 hour’ review
  • 29th - Severe asthma –how to recognise in primary care

December

  • 6th Impact of air pollution and housing

To register your attendance at these sessions, email Stephen Goldring at sgoldring@nhs.net

Full details can be found in the flyer linked below.
Download the flyer

Hepatitis A cases in Barnet
North East North Central Health Protection Team have recently been dealing with two cases of Hepatitis A in a primary school and nursery in Barnet.  Although the cases were in Barnet, some of the children and adults exposed are registered to practices in NWL.  Those practices have all been contacted and made aware and all of those who are deemed to be “at risk” have been identified as above and arrangements for vaccination have been made for them. Anyone outside these groups does not need the vaccine.

Please be aware of symptoms of hepatitis A (see below). In the unlikely event that you see anyone who is suspected to have the infection, please ensure they are tested and advised appropriately. 

Hepatitis A is a viral infection of the liver which can be transmitted through person-to-person spread or through contaminated foods or water. Symptoms can include fever, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and sometimes jaundice. Most people make a full recovery within a couple of months and have no long-term problems.  For more information, please click here. 

The NWL Health Protection team can be contacted on 0300 3030450 or by email at NWLHPT.OnCall@ukhsa.gov.uk
NHSE information on Hepatitis A

NHS North West London cancer bulletin
This edition of the cancer bulletin includes:
  • Changes to cancer waiting times - information for GP Practices
  • London Bowel Screening Campaign running from 16th October 2023 – 3rd December 2023.
  • Supporting patients completing FIT if symptomatic – webinars for primary care administrators and clinicians
  • Breast Cancer Awareness month  - maximising Breast Screening uptake for first invitees
  • Movember funding opportunity - Request for Proposals – Prostate Cancer Health Equity Initiative
Education and training opportunities:
  • The Royal Marsden FREE Breast and GI cancers GP Education Day – 19th October
  • Cancer Community of Practice – Upcoming events (FAO Primary Care Nurses and AHPs)
    • 18th October - Developing Quality Improvement approaches to improve patient outcomes across cancer services in London
    • 15th November - Barriers to cancer screening for LGBTQI+ Communities
  • RMP Cancer Education Programme

Accompanying documents:
Read the full bulletin

GP direct access survey for GPs

Thank you for your help in disseminating guidance for GP Direct Access in Early September and for your teams’ ongoing efforts to support general practice make use of these tests.

To help shape the future direction of the programme and inform how we engage with general practice, we have developed a brief GP Direct Access Survey for GPs. This explores current levels of awareness of the programme, what other tests GPs may find it useful to be granted direct access to, and how we can most effectively communicate with general practice. It consists of just seven questions and will take 3 – 4 minutes to complete.

We would be hugely grateful if you could please share this survey with your ICB primary care teams for onward dissemination to practices: GP Direct Access Survey for GPs.

As always, if you or your colleagues have any questions about the programme, please do get in touch at england.generalpracticeaccess@nhs.net.
Complete the survey

Urinary tract infection (UTI) prevention and awareness toolkit

NHSE and UKHSA are running a joint campaign 12-21st October 2023 to raise awareness of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) prevention, symptom recognition and treatment which includes advice on how and when to seek help.  UTI’s are one of the leading causes of potential life threatening E. coli bloodstream infections among over 65’s.

The campaign aims to signpost individuals, patients, carers and healthcare providers to a suite of resources, including films, posters and key messaging on how to prevent, recognise and treat UTIs. Information includes best practice, personal hygiene, self-care and the importance of staying hydrated.

This campaign is targeted at:

  • Older adults (65 years +) who are at higher risk of the impacts of urinary tract infections.
  • Paid and unpaid carers.

Health care professionals can use these resources during face to face consultations as well as sign post to materials for patients with digital access.

A link to the campaign assets can be found here

If you have any enquiries about the campaign, please contact england.improveipc@nhs.net
Download the toolkit

Education and training

Do you use SystmOne? Are you looking for ways to work smarter on administrative tasks? 

Join our SystmOne GP Automate demo.  

The demo will show you how GP Automate can process your patients’ normal lab reports accurately and efficiently, saving you time and reducing your manual workload. By joining the demo, you’ll be eligible to use the tool for free at your practice, for a limited time. 

Sound interesting? Please contact Sam Awotayo via the Digital First mailbox: nhsnwl.digitalfirst@nhs.net for further details. 
Contact the Digital First team

Webinar: being SMS efficient 

Tuesday, 17th October, 12 - 1pm 

Join Accurx to learn: 

  • Proven tips and tricks to minimise SMS Fragments at your Practice;  
  • In-product developments; 
  • Live Q&A Session. 
Register for the session

Diabetes primary care updates and training  

This diabetes updates contains information for primary care staff on the following:

  1. Information on the new NDPP provider Thrive Tribe 
  2. Early Onset Type 2 Diabetes (EOT2D)(T2DAY) Service (coming soon)
  3. Diabetes Level 2 Service: Diabetes MDTs (Multi-Disciplinary Teams) & Initiation and Optimization of Insulin or GLP-1 Therapy (coming soon)
  4. REWIND Monitoring
  5. Code your patients who have completed digital structured education + those patient who have created a KDS account
Read the full Diabetes Programme Update

NHS leadership academy
The NHS Leadership Academy has a number of training opportunities to support your development journey, including a webinar on understanding anxiety in the workplace (18 October), developing inclusive workplaces, and collaboration within in system leadership. 
Find out more
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